Army-police clash near Alka Talkies

Army officers from the College of Military Engineering (CME) and the traffic police almost exchanged blows at Alka Talkies chowk late last night.

Army officers from the College of Military Engineering (CME) and the traffic police almost exchanged blows at Alka Talkies chowk late last night.

Chowky attacked: The destruction at the Sambhaji police chowky

Two motorcycle-borne armymen were riding on the Alka Talkies bridge, which is reserved for four-wheelers, when they were stopped by a woman traffic police officer. The armymen reportedly abused the officer and later summoned their colleagues and created a ruckus at the Sambhaji police chowky, where they had been detained.

The young army officers also allegedly broke the cameras of two mediapersons who were covering the incident.

After being stopped by traffic constables Sunita Borude and Latif Maner, one of the army officers said that he was a captain and demanded to be let off.

"When the police asked for their driving licence and documentation, they got irked and abused the lady constable," said a police officer, requesting anonymity. The army officers then contacted their colleagues on mobile phones, after which 30 to 40 officers in civil dress reached the chowky where the two officers were detained.

On entering the chowky, the army officers allegedly smashed a glass kept on the table, a mirror on a wall and entered into a heated argument with the on-duty police officials. While senior police officers, including DCP (special branch) Makarand Ranade, DCP (Zone I) Dnyaneshwar Phadtare and DCP (Zone IV) Sanjay Jadhav reached the spot to control the situation, senior army officers also arrived to pacify the police.

The Young Officers (YOs) were later handed over to the military police, who promised action against them.

"Disciplinary action will be taken against them," said Ramanuj Singh, second-in-command of military police.